Woodhouse campaigners fight against Leeds council's plans to install cycle lanes on A660

The Friends of Woodhouse Moor say green space will be lost if city council proposals to put bike lanes on the A660, which runs northwards out of the city centre, go ahead.

Speaking at a full council meeting on Wednesday, the group claimed the scheme will make congestion worse and that grass verges and trees will be removed to make way for the lanes.

They also claimed a consultation over the plans is “biased” and asks leading questions.

Both the city council and Commonplace, the company behind the consultation’s platform, have been contacted for comment.

Bill McKinnon, chair of Friends of Woodhouse Moor, told the meeting: “They (the council) want to turn a pavement across the Moor into a shared cycle lane but don’t mention they’re dangerous.

“They want to encroach on the Moor, but not on narrower roads at either end of the park. We’re not told that this would enable traffic stacking across the Moor, allowing it to flow freely on the narrower roads.

“Because of slow or static traffic, resultant air pollution and lost green space, the park would become a less attractive destination for locals and students.”

The group claims that residents who don’t have gardens themselves would be “especially affected” by the plans and that a similar scheme had previously been rejected in 2018.

Mr McKinnon added: “Cycle lanes are socially desirable. But so is preserving green space.

“Is this why they (the council) don’t mention wanting to remove grass verge, thus endangering adjacent trees, or that there’s already little green space in Hyde Park and Woodhouse compared to Weetwood and West Park, where most cyclists originate?”

“Labour’s committed to narrowing the gap. But these proposals would widen it.

“The council would be sacrificing a known, existing benefit for local people, for an as yet unquantified benefit for outsiders.”